2018-2019 Investment and Innovation Grants

Learn about the 14 Investment and Innovation Grants awarded in the 2018-19 cycle.

The 14 grants awarded in 2018-19 represent a total Metro investment of $2,453,247, which will leverage an additional $2,383,065 in matching funds provided by the applicants.

Investment and Innovation grants are intended to build lasting, private sector capacity to reduce waste through reuse, recycling, composting or energy creation from discarded materials in the Metro region. They seek to both strengthen local efforts to reduce the amount and toxicity of waste, while generating positive benefits for communities of color and other communities that have historically been left out of the garbage and recycling system.

Capital grants

Compost facility upgrades to manage mixed yard debris and food scraps

Description: Allwood Recyclers will install a new aerated static pile composting system at an existing yard debris processing facility in Troutdale. The facility upgrades will expand access to residential food scrap composting to East County residents, including Gresham, Troutdale, Fairview and Wood Village. Currently there are no east side facilities which can accept both yard debris and food scraps, and the City of Gresham plans to add food scraps to yard debris pickup in the next two years. With this project, Allwood will process an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 tons of mixed yard debris and food scraps, reducing these quantities of materials going to landfill and related greenhouse gas emissions.

Materials recovery facility relocation and expansion

Description: City of Roses will expand material recovery and processing operations at its new northeast Portland facility. This expansion will include significant property improvements and new equipment to increase both the volumes and types of materials recovered for reuse and recycling at City of Roses, including construction and demolition waste, gypsum products, graded metals, asphalt, concrete, and polystyrene.

Continuous melt filter

Description: Denton Plastics will acquire and install a new continuous melt filter on an existing plastic extruder line. A melt filter removes contaminants, foreign particles, and unmelted polymer from melted plastic, enabling Denton to process more material with a higher degree of contamination in less time, producing a higher quality end product more efficiently. An estimated additional 5.7-8.1 million pounds (2800-4000 tons) of material will be processed with the new filter, based on quantities of feedstock that Denton currently rejects due to lack of processing capacity.

Training of truck drivers for solid waste industry

Description: Interstate Trucking Academy will expand its eight-week training program to prepare workers for careers as truck drivers, to address a regional shortage of commercially licensed drivers for garbage collection and disproportionate access to family-sustaining jobs for communities of color. The grant will include funding for two garbage trucks for use in training, outreach and recruitment materials and labor, and a train-the-trainer course to enable Interstate Trucking Academy to offer college credit for Commercial Drivers License candidates through Clackamas Community College.

Truck and racks for re-use

Description: NW Deconstruction will purchase a flatbed truck equipped with a knuckle boom crane and heavy-duty stackable racks and containers designed to efficiently transport salvageable building materials generated from whole house deconstruction and major remodeling activity. Currently, removing salvage materials off work sites requires five to six steps; the truck, crane and racks will reduce this to two steps. This increase in work flow and efficiency will lead to an overall increase in recovery of salvageable building materials (keeping these materials out of landfills), with a target goal of 100 percent increase over NW Deconstruction’s current levels.

Program support and box truck for increased food recovery and hunger-relief services

Description: Oregon Food Bank will expand its food recovery services in Clackamas and Multnomah counties. The grant will result in an estimated 3,000,000 pounds of food rescued from 102 grocery stores; 2,164,000 pounds of food donations from food manufacturers, and 1,500,000 from food donations from households. This includes at least 10 new distribution partners and provision of direct-to-partner food delivery service. The grant will also partially fund a new truck, which will result in pick-up donations from six additional grocery stores (551,933 additional pounds of food per year), and six new mobile markets to reach underserved communities.

Recycling sorting robots

Description: Pioneer Recycling Services will purchase and install two sorting robots for use on the container line at Pioneer’s Clackamas facility. The robots will sort comingled materials with significantly more speed and produce a higher-quality end product beyond what can be accomplished by human sorting. The robots can be “trained” to change the items they sort as markets shift, and will enable Pioneer to process up to 3,500 tons per year of additional plastic, paper and metal items not currently sorted.

Description: Pride Recycling Company will expand the floor space in its transfer station in Sherwood to enable it to accept and transfer mixed residential yard debris and food waste, commercial food waste, and an increased amount of dry waste. The facility expansion will allow Pride to handle 50,000 to 60,000 tons of yard debris/food mix annually and accept food waste from businesses as the west side of the region expands commercial collection in coming years.

Program support and refrigerated van for expanded food recovery

Description: Urban Gleaners will expand its current food waste recovery services by 8 percent, with a focus in Clackamas County. It will also pilot a “closed loop delivery program” that will engage additional restaurants and grocery stores in food rescue by backhauling with food delivery companies already on the road to a centralized location. By the end of the project year, the project will have diverted an additional 40 tons of edible food from landfills, and Urban Gleaners will serve an additional 400 food-insecure people each week by providing food service to low-income families with young children.

Program grants

Eco-School Network waste reduction project

Description: Eco-School Network will work with trained parent leaders in 20 schools to reduce waste in Portland, Beaverton, West Linn, and North Clackamas elementary schools. Initiatives will focus on cafeteria waste (food, food packaging, plastic silverware, disposable trays and boats, straws, and milk cartons), as well as disposable water bottles, school supplies, event waste, and new clothing, costumes, and books. In addition to the project reducing an estimated 2,000 cubic yards of landfilled waste per year, students will learn resource conservation and waste prevention, develop stewardship values, and gain daily practice in reducing waste.

Overcoming barriers in deconstruction: Contractor capacity building

Description: Earth Advantage will partner with Re-Use Consulting and the Portland Metropolitan Home Builders Association to provide targeted capacity-building services to deconstruction firms so that more certified firms can participate fully in the local deconstruction industry. As an initial step, the partners will assess the barriers that currently prevent more certified firms from successfully bidding on deconstruction projects, and will design consultative services to address these barriers. This project will grow the deconstruction industry, aid MWBE/DBE deconstruction firms, reduce building material waste, and reduce adverse impacts of demolition in underserved areas.

Electronic waste recycling program support

Description: Free Geek will add two receiving and recycling associates and purchase a cardboard baler and pallet wrapper, which will expand their capacity to accept more electronics. In 2017, Free Geek diverted over 1 million pounds of electronic waste from landfills, either sustainably recycling the items or refurbishing them and distributing them back into the community. Free Geek estimates the grant will enable them to remove an additional 400,000 to 1 million pounds of electronics from the Metro region waste stream in the coming year.

Used box truck to expand donation pickup service in Gresham, Beaverton and Portland

Description: Habitat for Humanity will purchase a used box truck and hire a driver to expand its donation pickup service into Gresham, Portland, and Beaverton. This will provide additional opportunities for businesses and individuals to reuse and recycle waste, while growing Habitat’s ability to build affordable homes for underserved, low-income populations. An estimated additional 1,597,000 pounds of solid waste will be diverted from landfill as a result of this grant.

Consulting services to build the waste wood-to-energy ecosystem in Portland

Description: Wisewood Energy will develop assessments of <10 MW advanced biomass systems as replicable clean energy alternatives to landfilling waste wood. Four demand-side assessments will be conducted with potential biomass users in Portland. The feasibility assessments and analyses are the first step on the path towards implementation of small-scale biomass systems. Additionally, a supply-side assessment will be conducted with a local materials recycling facility, City of Roses Disposal & Recycling, which could help it market a significant portion of the 7,200 tons of clean wood waste it receives each year.

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